Worried about doing 2 guides

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Kims
Posts: 215
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:20 pm

Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by Kims » Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:13 pm

I know a lot on here do 2 guides and more at once but I am so worried about it. I am not sure I can handle it. Next year my then 3rd grader will be in bigger and my then 1st grader will be doing LHFHG.
Please can someone show me how this will work? They are so close that they both need a lot of one on one attention but not close enough to combine.
I am worried I can't do it all and that someone will get the short end of the stick. :cry:
I am considering starting LHFHG with my K son after Christmas. I am not currently doing HOD with either of them. we kind of took a break this year to work on some character studies and because I wanted my son to be older for Bigger. It seemed like a big jump for him after Beyond.

If someone could just please lay out how it would look in a day it might help me. I know I will need to figure out my own way but right now I don't even know how to start.
Thanks
Kim S
Jamie 22, Sloane 19, Savannah 18, Collin 9, and Judah 7
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein

countrymom
Posts: 770
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:16 pm

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by countrymom » Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:44 am

My first recommendation was to not start both guides at the same time, so if you feel your youngest is ready you could start after Christmas. You could go 1/2 speed for awhile to get him or her into it and that would give you time to get used to the guide and get a system down. I would also take a week off with your youngest when you start your older in Bigger to give you a week to get things figured out in Bigger. It is hard to lay out an exact schedule, but I would lay out a side by side schedule that gives each playtime and choretime while you work with the other. About the only thing your child in Little Hearts could possibly do semi-independently is the handwriting and maybe the skills book, so you could put that with a Bigger activity that is somewhat independent, such as the cursive or maybe math. I have Bigger and Little hearts 1/2 speed right now, so my son in Bigger does his copywork while I work with younger. Then he takes a little break and I am finished with the younger since we are only 1/2 speed. This will be your hardest year, but as you child goes into Preparing he or she will start to work independently a little bit and it will gradually get easier. You could check the "let's share our schedules thread" for ideas also. There have been some good suggestions this year and some have found taking a break and not trying to be done by lunch is working very well for them. I am sure others will have some good ideas too, but take heart, it is doable!
Countrymom
Wife to J
Big J - LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, Rev to Rev, Modern Missions, beginning parts of World Geography
Little J - LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, working in CTC

MomtoJGJE
Posts: 1534
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:20 pm
Location: Gastonia, NC

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by MomtoJGJE » Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:27 am

Is your LHFHG child reading yet? IF he's reading any then you could have him do math (after the hands on stuff) and the fine motor skills box independently. During that time you could read the history from Bigger. For me, that is the hardest thing to figure out with more than one.... how to read everyone's history.

The other thing is, if your Bigger child is 9 or close enough, you could have him read some of his history or science on his own.

What I did when I had Bigger and LHFHG was:

Read Bigger history, poetry, Bible, read through extra box (timeline/geography/whatever it happened to be), explain math, go over DITHOR

Send Bigger child to the table with math, cursive/copywork, vocab, DITHOR book, and anything else she could do by herself

Do LHFHG completely while Bigger child was at table.

Check Bigger child's independent work, do DITHOR, read science go over any work, do oral English, do dictation, history notebooking if on that day, basically finish up teaching Bigger. Send her off to finish.

Do LHTH completely

Check Bigger child's work.

It seems like a lot of work, but it really was quite easy. I basically did half of each side of BIgger in the first sitting and half of each side in the second sitting. And it's basically what I do now with Preparing, Beyond, LHFHG, and LHTH except a lot of days we don't get to LHTH. But right now it's just for fun. We'll really begin preschool in April when she turns 4.

Kims
Posts: 215
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by Kims » Fri Dec 21, 2012 8:07 am

The only problem is both love to hear the reading. So it will be hard for each to not listen in on the read for the others.
I think I will sit down after Christmas and map out what I could do together and what needs to be done apart from each other.
Kim S
Jamie 22, Sloane 19, Savannah 18, Collin 9, and Judah 7
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein

abrightmom
Posts: 474
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:56 pm

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by abrightmom » Fri Dec 21, 2012 9:56 am

Kims wrote:The only problem is both love to hear the reading. So it will be hard for each to not listen in on the read for the others.
I think I will sit down after Christmas and map out what I could do together and what needs to be done apart from each other.
It will work out and you will find a rhythm. You will 8) . Let them listen in if they want to and you don't mind. It is really YOUR choice. :mrgreen: The readings in LH are short and will be fun for your 3rd grader to enjoy. The storytime for Bigger can be storytime for everybody. The history and science readings may or may not interest your first grader and are worth reading more than once over the years. :mrgreen: You will have to accept a season of trial and error but don't give up! Be willing to try different things, train your kids, think outside the box, etc. Enjoy letting the kids enjoy each other's guide. Once the novelty wears off you may find the first grader wanting to play rather than listen in to the 3rd grader's history, science, etc.
Katrina 8) Wife to Ben, husband extraordinaire! God is so good!
DS21, DS20, DD18
Levi DS14

Carrie
Site Admin
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:39 pm

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by Carrie » Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:20 am

Kim,

It is good to know going in that both LHFHG and Bigger will require you to be teaching almost everything. However, don't despair, because both of these guides are great training for what is to come! So, in essence, Bigger is your biggest teaching year, because you have to be present to do almost all of it. It pays big dividends as you move on to Preparing though! :D

As you look at your schedule, one thing that I would caution you against doing is letting your LHFHG child listen to all of Bigger's history or science. This is because you will be stealing your thunder as CM would say that narrating from a reading heard only one time makes the reading much more interesting (and the habit of attention much more important)! :wink: If your child is just playing nearby, it really isn't a big deal. However, just be sure the younger child knows he/she is listening only, not responding. :wink: The same is true for science. Sometimes I let my littles jump in and participate and sometimes not. I do make sure not to think of ways though to be sure to include the younger child. I just try to keep in mind that this is the older child's history and science, and if it works to include the little one right along as written it's fine, however I'm not coming up with ways to make it fit the younger child. :D

If you want to have your two kiddos listen to each other's storytimes that would work fine, because when you get to Bigger with your next one you can simply choose a different set of storytime books to read aloud. Perhaps your Bigger child could be doing cursive while you are reading aloud from the LHFHG storytime. Just be sure that the LHFHG child is the one who answers the LHFHG questions and the follow-ups in the guide. Be sure your Bigger child knows it is just a listening opportunity, not an answering opportunity. The same is true for when it is the Bigger child's storytime. Perhaps, you could read that one aloud while your kiddos are eating lunch, or else right after lunch. This has worked well at our house in the past, because it is a time when we are all together anyway. :D

They hymn from Bigger and the Hide Em in Your Heart music from LHFHG is another thing that works well together. :D The older child can also help out with the Rhymes in Motion, and if you wanted your younger one to listen to the older's poetry while playing nearby that works fine too. :D

Math is something we are able to do around the table, as is phonics and Drawn into the Heart of Reading. I plan those round-table style right now with my youngest 2. I go over the older one's math and get that child going, while the LHFHG child does either Do It Carefully or Handwriting K. Then, I teach the younger one's math lesson and get that child going, while keeping an eye on the older child's math. When the older child finishes, he moves onto DITHR. I do any lesson and send that child off to read nearby, while I do phonics with the little one. :D My kiddos know to be patient during this time, and it can be a little hectic, but it does work well. We've done some version of this around the table with all of our kiddos through the years in various combinations. :D

To keep your day from going to long, I'd work to do the left side of LHFHG in one 30 min chunk with your youngest child without interruption if possible. To do this, be sure that any other kiddos you have are occupied for 30 min. with something that they will not come from to interrupt you. It can be educational computer or reading a book or playing with a younger sibling or something to that effect. It does not have to be school-related for that 30 min. As you can see, with what I've shared thus far, after the 30 min. left side for LHFHG, your LHFHG child will be done (if you did motor skills, math, and phonics round table style and storytime while the older does cursive). :D

As far as your Bigger child goes, it can also be helpful to have a 30 min. uninterrupted chunk of time where you move through 3 boxes on the left side of that guide as well (probably Reading About History, Bible, and the bottom left rotating box). The poetry and hymns and storytime you would be doing along with your other child. DITHR and math you'd be doing round table style. This leaves you grammar, dictation, and science to finish some other time in your schedule. :D I'd probably split them and try to grammar and dictation first thing while the younger one is still sleeping, getting ready for school, or eating. Then, I'd probably do science last, after reading storytime to everybody together. But, you'll find your own fit. :D

These are just suggestions to get you thinking of possibilities that may work for you. :D Each family is so different, so what works for one may not work for another. Hopefully, this dialogue will help you find the right fit for you. :D You can do this!

Blessings,
Carrie

Kims
Posts: 215
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Worried about doing 2 guides

Post by Kims » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:14 pm

Ok I looked at the Bigger guide a little and I think I can do it. I just need to figure out my rhythm and plan it out.
I LOVE the looks of Bigger and really have missed HOD this year. I won't take a year off again. :cry:
Kim S
Jamie 22, Sloane 19, Savannah 18, Collin 9, and Judah 7
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein

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